If you want to shoot me a PM on what you want for your 12 amp unit I would be interested. What I am trying to do is have an emergency EVSE in either car if for example we go on a little road trip. ( can switch it to the car we take for our sunday drive) Something that is faster than the stock Nissan or Mercedes 110 EV. I have all the adapters as I bought them for my Juicebox thinking I would use it for exactly that. Thing is, we kinda like having it mounted on the wall as it is our go to charger for both vehicles. It's also kinda bulky. Something simple and compact and cheap and 120 or 240 would be perfect. This is our current setup. We very rarely charge both vehicles at the same time but can as they are different circuits. The little Mercedes unit is just a 120 volt 8 or 12 amp unit. I think your amp unit would still end up being under 3 kWH charging. 2.8 or so.

If you want to shoot me a PM on what you want for your 12 amp unit I would be interested. What I am trying to do is have an emergency EVSE in either car if for example we go on a little road trip. ( can switch it to the car we take for our sunday drive) Something that is faster than the stock Nissan or Mercedes 110 EV. I have all the adapters as I bought them for my Juicebox thinking I would use it for exactly that. Thing is, we kinda like having it mounted on the wall as it is our go to charger for both vehicles. It's also kinda bulky. Something simple and compact and cheap and 120 or 240 would be perfect. This is our current setup. We very rarely charge both vehicles at the same time but can as they are different circuits. The little Mercedes unit is just a 120 volt 8 or 12 amp unit. I think your amp unit would still end up being under 3 kWH charging. 2.8 or so.

John.

+1 for the Zencar, I have one and it's the only EVSE I carry in my Leaf. I use it for short term 27.5a L2 charging on a 30a+ circuit and 20a(19a actual) on 20a circuits for both L2 and L1. I also have the 13a setting(12a actual) for 15a L1 circuits. It works great, is easily adjustable(albeit weirdly by shaking the EVSE within a minute of plugging in the wall and before plugging into your car) and isn't really any larger than the OEM Leaf EVSE. Note I got a extra long cord, both input(L6-30) and output (8m) so it wouldn't coil into the OEM Leaf bag, the cords are just too big.I also have many outlet adapters I've made, all to go to my L6-30p input of my Zen. Note by choosing the L6-30p vs say a 14-50p plug, they will only set the maximum output to 30a because thats the maximum rating for a L6-30p but I didn't want to go with the 14-50p because they are SO much more bulky and harder to find in the female variant, which is what you need to make various outlet adapters. Amazon does sell a nice 14-50r(female plug) but it's double the price of the ~$10 they sell 6-30r plugs for. There isn't too many plugs I can't plug into, either 240 or 120v and with my Zen I can set the maximum current to get the fastest charging possible.

Note I also have a 20a adjustable EVSEupgrade EVSE which I used before getting the Zen but I regularly have the occasion to charge at 27.5a L2 and the difference between that and 20a is really noticeable, like gaining 10%/hr more SOC with the Zen. For example starting at 20% SOC on my Leaf, with the Zen charging for 2hrs I get up to 80% SOC, with my 20a EVSEupgraded EVSE I'd only be up to 60% in the same 2hrs, it would take me an extra hour to get up to 80% with the EVSEupgraded EVSE!

As mentioned the OpenEVSE is also a good route to go but more expensive(by at least $100 USD) and not quite as polished a product(IMO). The Zen has a real factory build look while the OpenEVSE is more home build look. Not that one is worse than the other and the OpenEVSE has the advantage of current settings anywhere from 6a to 30a(or whatever the max you order) but only even current settings, no odd number settings.

An OpenEVSE unit will do what you want. The maximum current is determined by the J1772 cable. For Leaf use a 30A cable is fine. If you ignore the extra 10A the 40A cable from Quick Charge Power is very nice, The 40A cable is smaller than 30A cables due to the paired line wires. Anything over 27.5A is good for an enhanced Leaf. Anything extra is just ignored.

One of my pet peeves is someone that buys a heavier EVSE thinking it will charge faster. The car's charger sets the current limit. Anything more is ignored.

Most people (not me) are using the RAPI interface with a cheap wifi module. The nice thing about the OpenEVSE firmware is that you can turn off options you do not need. I routinely disable the RAPI interface since I want only a basic EVSE. I as sorry but the bells and whistles do nothing for me.

I think I"ll upgrade my 2013 mobile NIssan cable Via EVSEupgrade.com This is a solution I may never use, so I'm willing to compromise on speed to save some money. If I figure correctly, I'll end up with an up-to 20Amp EVSE, so 4.8 kW from an RV park L2 14-50 outlet (or 6-30 with an adapter.) A faster, but more expensive or lesser known quality EVSE could shave 15 minutes off an emergency charge.

Last edited by SageBrush on Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

2013 Model 'S' with QC & rear-view cameraBought off-lease Jan 2017 from N. California with 63.9 Ahr after 22k milesCar is now enjoying an easy life in Colorado